As I mentioned in an article on November 8, 2009, way back in November 2007, I started a thread on SOTW about the oh so contentious, Selmer Mark VI saxophones.
What’s so contentious about them you ask? Well I actually couldn’t tell you. You’d have to ask some of the 39,000+ members of SOTW—of which only 6,144 were active as of this morning—who regularly used to have lots of negative opinions of the these horns. Some went as far as to flame owners of said horns for just owning them, or speaking positively about their experiences with these French saxophones.
Is it simply a case a saxual envy? I’ve always thought so. But hey, I own a set of VIs, so I’ve found my flame retardant suit useful on more than one occasion. 😉
I don’t know if this hatred for the VI is still alive and well on SOTW, because honestly, I don’t spend much time on the board anymore. When I do have a chance to drop in, I tend to avoid the threads that are just a rehash of what I’ve read since ’98 or ’99. (When I first joined what would become the world’s largest online sax community.)
Having said this, I do like to catch up on the threads that I’ve participated in, or that I have started. This is why, from time to time, I like to check in on my Selmer Mark VI Owners Club thread.
This morning I looked in on the thread, and was happy to see that it was still alive and well. The latest post was just yesterday morning. People are still adding their Mark VIs to the poll, and respectfully discussing the horns in the 318 posts to date. So far no Selmer haters have dared rear their ugly heads.
Certainly there were those people who chimed in with something like: “I sold my VI and bought a XXXX. Don’t regret it for a minute.”
But those posts are by far outnumbered by things like: “I sold my tenor serial XXXXXX in 19XX, and have regretted ever since. I can’t find another one like it.” Or something along those lines.
As far as the poll itself, this is how the numbers breakdown as of this morning:
| View Poll Results: Which Mark VI Do You Own? | |||||
| # | % | # Increase over Nov. 8, 2009 | |||
| Sopranino | 8 | 1.45% | +3 | ||
| Soprano | 68 | 12.34% | +20 | ||
| Alto Low Bb | 230 | 41.47% | +69 | ||
| Alto Low A | 11 | 2% | +6 | ||
| Tenor | 373 | 67.7% | +130 | ||
| Bari Low Bb | 32 | 5.81% | +10 | ||
| Bari Low A | 31 | 5.63% | +14 | ||
| Bass | 2 | 0.36% | +2 | ||
| Other: I don’t think I missed any. Did I? | 7 | 1.27% | +4 | ||
| Multiple Choice poll. Total Voters | 551 | — | +194 | ||
Overall, the poll was remarkably consistent with the last time I took the snapshot. Percentage wise, slightly more sopranino, soprano, low A alto, and low A bari players have now participated, while the number of low Bb alto, tenor, and low Bb bari players has dropped slightly.
Since November 2009, we’ve also had 2 bass players chime in, as well as seen an increase in the mysterious Other category.
BTW, in none of the 300+ posts in this thread have I seen anyone describe what these Other horns are. I’d sure like to know, since we now have 7 out of 762 horns being something other than S,S,A,T,B,B, with a couple of low A options thrown in.
Is the poll scientific? No, but then it was never intended as a serious piece of research. It was intended to start some constructive dialogue about a model of saxophone, that has been hyped by ? (dealers, players, collectors, ???) to the point where it is beyond the means of the average player.
I am just grateful that I’ve had my VIs for as many years as I have. The only one that I bought more recently was my bari—which I bought in ’98. The rest have been with me since my university days in the early 80s.
Like many players who have participated in the poll, I cannot foresee myself parting with my Mark VIs. Yes, I might have a number of other saxophones. And yes, some of them I like better for certain applications, and play more often than my Mark VIs. However, when it comes to overall playability, and overall flexibility and adaptability, the Mark VI can best be described as a chameleon.
The VI is adaptable enough to fit into any situation. Have a classical performance in the afternoon, followed by a show with a rock band in the evening? The VI can pull it off. The Super 20, not so much. It is this adaptability in part, which gives the Mark VI its widespread appeal.
When I get my JK Toneking back in a couple of weeks, it will be interesting to compare/contrast its ability to adapt, to that of the Mark VI. Will it be a Mark VI slayer? I should know by the end of the month.
Hi Helen.
Hope you are well. You’re right. I’ve tried a 54′ VI before and its really different from all the other horns i tried. I however play the Super 20 and my friend tried my horn (He’s a Selmer advocate) and he told me that he can’t seem to get a classical sound out of it. Really, down to taste i guess!
Hey there Liu. Nice to see you here again. I was wonder how you were doing.
I love my 1950 Zephyr, and wouldn’t trade it for anything. I like it better than the post-HN White Super 20 I had, that I had to get rid of in order to appease my profs at university. (A Super 20 was a saxaphona non grata at my university in the early ’80s.) It was my Mark VI tenor that I replaced the Super 20 with, since the VI was the horn of choice for my university profs at the time.
With so many different brands of horns that I now own, I can safely say that while yes, 90%+ of the sound may come from player, the horn does play a small role in the remaining 10 or so % of the sound a player produces.
I wouldn’t say that I like my Selmer sound more than that of my Zephyr, I just think it’s more adaptable to the various styles of music. If I sit down and shed some of the classical etudes from my university days, the Zeph doesn’t sound nearly as convincing on them as my VI does. Now, truth be told, neither sounds truly convincing, since I’m playing these etudes on a Dukoff S7 mouthpiece. My profs would be shaking their heads and walking away disgust I’m sure. Oh well… Apparently you can’t take the rocker out of me.
That’s what I really like about the vintage horns, versus the modern ones. Modern ones, to my ear anyway, seem to sound too much alike. They’re like cookie cutters of each other.
With the vintage saxes—I’m talking about good, pro horns that are in good repair, not POS horns that were a POC when they were built—there is a variety to their sounds. I believe part of that variety had to do with the hand manufacturing process, while another part was the bore differences. They weren’t all copies of each other, like many of today’s horns are.
What vintage is your Super 20 Liu? It’s a 50s isn’t it?